Discovering thatWikipedia pages need basiccopyediting, i.e., correcting for grammar, spelling, readability, or layout, may surprise new visitors to the site, but thisis the "encyclopedia that anyone can edit": it isnot perfect yet! Thousands of articles need simple improvements you can make withoutbeing an expert in the subject. Copyediting involves the "five Cs": making the article clear, correct, concise, comprehensible, and consistent.[1] The following is a guide for new copyeditors.
Scan the article for errors or ways in which it can be improved. The entire article or particular sections may be tagged as needing a copyedit. There is a list of common mistakes below.
Step two
Edit the page by clicking the "Edit" or "Edit source" tab near the top or one of the edit links next to the section headings.
Step three
Make your changes and fill out anedit summary. Be helpful to the editors who follow you by giving a summary of what you have done. Simple "Copy edit" is fine, but "Edited for tone" is even better. The most commonly usedabbreviation for "copy edit" is "ce", which is better than nothing, but it is more helpful to include one or more words or phrases such as "capitalization", "subject-verb agreement", "fixed dangling modifier", "logical quotes", or whatever describes your edit.
Step four
Preview your change and save.
Step five (optional)
If you think the article does not need further basic copyediting, click Edit again and remove the "copy edit" template at the top of the article, which is what flags it as needing improvement. The template typically is a markup that looks like{{copy edit}}, with a date inside the braces.
Useful tools
WordCounter counts characters and sentences, and makes other measurements. It can also help improve grammar, word choice, and writing style, as well as detectplagiarism.
LanguageTool has a free plugin for popular web browsers that checks spelling, grammar, usage, and punctuation.
Please be careful when using these and other tools; they are not infallible. You should manually check the output of online tools and spelling checkers for factual accuracy, grammar, spelling and thecorrect variety of English, and the output should be corrected where necessary. Editors are fully responsible for their own edits regardless of any tools they use.
Common mistakes to fix
These are some common errors you may find in articles:
its andit's;there,their, andthey're;your,you're, andyou;lose andloose;lie andlay (and their tenses);who's andwhose;have andof (should of forshould have)
Capitalization and formatting
Words defined, described, or referenced as words should be italicized, e.g., "The termstyle also refers to the layout of an article."
Wikipedia article headings should generally be noun phrases (History of...) and not prepositional phrases (About the history of...).
Headings begin with a single capital letter, i.e., they usesentence case. The only other capital letters in headings are inproper names andacronyms.
Titles of works of art (paintings, sculpture), plays and operas, television series, films, novels and nonfiction books, song cycles, and long poems should be italicized rather than put in quotation marks, e.g.,Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
Location constructions, such asVilnius, Lithuania, require a comma after the second element, e.g., "He was born in Vilnius, Lithuania, after the country had gained independence."
Themonth–day–year style of writing dates requires a comma after the year, e.g., "On September 15, 1947, she began her first year at Harvard."
Decade names should not include an apostrophe before thes ("She was born in the 1980s." instead of"She was born in the 1980's."). Generally do not refer to a decade without its century. SeeWP:DECADE.
Avoid affected, pompous or excessive language, e.g., "due to the fact that" for "because", "ascertain the location of" for "find", and (inalmost all cases) "utilize" for "use".
Check articles for unnecessary words and redundant phrases. Vigorous, effective writing is clear and concise. SeePlain English.
Quotations should not be changed, except for trivial spelling and typographic errors. Otherwise, obvious errors and censorship in the original can be marked with{{sic}}, which displays as [sic]. Legitimate insertions and omissions are acceptable if marked by square brackets and ellipses, respectively. SeeWP:MOSQUOTE for details.
In lists, ensureparallelism. Use bulleted lists for more than a few elements, for readability.
Article elements
External links belong at the end of an article under the headingExternal links orFurther reading. Articles, books, and websites used as sources are listed separately in aReferences orNotes section.
Contractions
With the exception of direct quotations and names, do not usecontractions in articles. Spell out the words in full, i.e., write "do not" instead of "don't"; write "cannot" instead of "can't"; etc.
Spelling
Correct spelling mistakes andtypos. SeeWikipedia:Spellchecking for complete advice on how to do this well; the main points are:
Be careful to use the correct variety of English (e.g., American or British), which affects spelling (e.g.,flavour,colour,centre anddefence vs.flavor,color,center, anddefense).Wikipedia:Manual of Style § National varieties of English has extensive guidance on how to choose correctly and how to write clearly for all readers.
Articles about a given region use that region's variety of English.
Otherwise, the first variety used by any given editor is retained by succeeding editors.
The talk page may have a banner indicating which variety is already established, or the article may have a template like{{Use British English}} at the top of the wikitext.
Most web browsers have built-in spellchecking. You can use external websites or software to check for errors.
If you want to focus only on misspellings, these tools are handy:
Some style guides advise against grammatical constructions, such aspassive voice,split infinitives,restrictivewhich,beginning a sentence with a conjunction, andending clauses in a preposition. These are common in high-quality publications and should not be "fixed" without considering the consequences. For example, changing even one passive sentence to make it active can easily alter the meaning of an entire paragraph. Attempts to improve any passage must be based on tone, clarity, and consistency, rather than blind adherence to a rule.
When considering recommendations from copy-editing software likeGrammarly, refrain from making changes that would negatively affect the tone of the sentence. Notably, avoid suggested changes that would introducewords to watch ornon-neutral wording.
Etiquette
Remember that Wikipedia is a collaborative, consensus-based environment.Be bold in making changes, but if you find your work has been undone by another editor, visit the talk page of the article and start a discussion before reinstating it. According toButcher's Copy-editing:
The good copyeditor is a rare creature: an intelligent reader and a tactful and sensitive critic; someone who cares enough about the perfection of detail to spend time checking small points of consistency in someone else's work but has the good judgement not to waste time or antagonize the author by making unnecessary changes.[2]
Articles in need of basic copyediting may be tagged with templates, such as{{copyedit}} or{{copyedit-section}}. A list of such articles can be found in a few places. The easiest places to get started are:
